Montgomery Co. school needs could mean tax raise
Montgomery Co. school needs could mean tax raise
0 Comments | Roanoke Times & World News, Jul 28, 2010 | by Anna L. Mallory
Building a new Blacksburg High School while maintaining plans for a new high school and renovations in Riner could cost up to $124.5 million, according to Montgomery County school system figures.
On Monday, the school board will find out how much the county’s board of supervisors, through which all capital funding requests must funnel, would be willing to raise for school construction needs. Any new construction projects would likely mean a real estate tax increase because the county is nearing its debt capacity.
Completing the most pressing, Blacksburg and Auburn high schools, together could mean an increase of more than 10 cents on the dollar, and some school board members said they don’t support it.
“I have a problem asking for bricks and mortar when we’ve forgotten programs and people,” school board member Wat Hopkins said. “I can’t ask for 10 cents for construction without asking for raises.”
The Feb. 13 collapse of Blacksburg High School’s gym has left the school unusable this fall and has caused shifts in housing for about 2,000 students. That missing school could mean shifts in the county’s school capital improvement plan as well.
During a school board work session Tuesday, Assistant Superintendent Walt Shannon gave the board four capital improvement scenarios with rough cost estimates:
– Repairing Blacksburg High School at $14,464,000.
– Building new Blacksburg and Auburn high schools and renovating Auburn High School for use by Auburn Middle School students at $124.5 million.
– Building new Blacksburg and Auburn high schools without middle school changes at $102 million.
– Building a new Blacksburg High School for 1,200 students at $57.4 million.
“I need to find out what they’re going to support,” board Chairman Wendell Jones said. “I need to understand before I can make a decision, what are we going to get.”
The needs in Blacksburg could push back other projects on the county’s capital improvement plan, such as addressing overcrowding in Christiansburg’s schools
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